Research of more than 8,000 consumers in the UK, US, Germany and France released by Medallia, the global leader in customer experience management, in conjunction with Ipsos, the leading independent market research company, found that customer experience is the top reason consumers cite for choosing a retailer.

Despite the importance of the customer experience to consumers, more than three quarters (87 percent) of Brits said they have seen no progress in the customer experience in the retail sector. Although brands invest heavily in advertising and marketing, only 12 percent of global respondents said they would be swayed by a company’s advertising communications.

The question then for many retailers is how they can show innovation and progress in customer experience, whilst analysing how customers want to see this progress being made.

Rachel Lane, digital solutions principal at Medallia comments on the findings, “Many high-profile UK brands have hit the headlines for all of the wrong reasons recently. They are swiftly learning how building and repairing customer trust is the key to growth, and indeed survival. Creating a positive customer experience, across all channels must be at the front and centre of how brands operate. Consumers today expect nothing less.”

The data reveals that consumers are quick to both penalise and reward a brand based on their experience. In fact, 80 percent of UK consumers claim to have chosen a product or service from a company because of good experiences, while 64 percent said they have avoided a provider because of a bad experience they had within the last year.

The study looked closely at consumer attitudes towards the retail and online retail sectors. Key findings of the study include:

• 64 percent of UK consumers say they have avoided a brand because of a bad experience in the past year and this is even more clear in millennials, at 70 percent.
• Just 4 percent of Brits say that an experience with a bricks and mortar retailer has exceeded their expectations.
• Every interaction matters. Customers expect their experience to be seamless and efficient on and offline – two thirds (65 percent) of consumers expect consistent levels of service across physical and digital channels.
• An average of 57 percent of UK respondents expect real-time responses on their preferred channel of communication.
• Women and younger generations are more likely to avoid a brand because of a bad experience. 66 percent of women (vs. 62 percent of men) globally have avoided a brand because of a bad experience (with 64 percent being the global average for both men and women). In addition, this behaviour is even more pronounced for millennials and Gen Z, with 70 percent and 68 percent respectively avoiding a brand because of a bad experience.

Methodology

Medallia partnered with Ipsos to conduct a panel survey of 8,002 consumers from four countries — US (2,002), UK (2,000), France (2,000), and Germany (2,000) — across six industry sectors: online retail, offline retail, banking, insurance, mobile network providers and hotels. The collected sample was approximately matched to the census of each country on age and gender. The research was conducted online, in the local language for each country, and respondents were incentivized to participate.